The use of road barriers on highways have proven to be effective at reducing the number of series injuries and fatalities caused by automobile accidents. Road barriers have also proven to be effective at reducing damage which would otherwise occur to vehicles that become displaced from their proper path along a roadway.
While road barriers are typically used on highways or the like, such barriers have also been used to prevent vehicular penetration into other areas such as work zones, pedestrian walkways, etc.
Notwithstanding the proven usefulness and effectiveness of highway barriers, safety concerns have prompted manufacturers of highway barriers to continue to exert great efforts to develop improved barriers to isolate desired areas and to reduce the risk of injury to occupants and vehicles and damage to the vehicles.
Portable barriers which include a hollow body and may later be filled with a fluid or solid material to increase the mass of the barriers have been particularly desirable due to advantages associated with transporting and setting up such barriers. Portable highway barriers typically include an elongated container made of semi-rigid plastic material which is self-supporting and which has a predetermined shape. These containers may be filled with water and other fluids substances such as sand, chipped rubber and the like in order to substantially increase the mass of such barriers and to maintain the shape thereof. It is also known in the prior art for both portable and permanent highway barriers to include various sections which can be interconnected in an end-to-end configuration in order to form a continuous barrier wall of a desired length.
Although the aforementioned prior art hollow barriers have been useful, a need continues to exist for a barrier system which can easily and quickly be assembled and which provides enhanced stability when in an assembled position.